The taste and cooking qualities of red meat, pork, poultry, and fish may all be improved by marinating the products prior to cooking. It is desirable during the marinating process to have the product absorb a significant volume of the liquid in which the product is being marinated to improve the moisture content of the product and impart flavor thereto. When a meat product is immersed in a liquid marinating material and left in refrigerated conditions for a number of hours, the meat will absorb a quantity of liquefied marinating material equal to approximately one and one-half percent of the weight of the meat. On the other hand, where meat, poultry or fish is placed in a drum with liquid marinating material, and a vacuum is drawn within the drum and the drum is thereafter rotated for twenty to forty-five minutes, fish, pork and chicken will absorb up to twenty percent of their weight in marinating material and beef will absorb up to ten percent of its weight in marinating material.
Marinating not only adds flavor to the meat or fish, but improves the cooking qualities thereof. When meat having a greater quantity of liquid therein is cooked, some of the liquid within the meat will convert to steam, causing the meat to be cooked from within and the cooked meat will be more moist and flavorful.
A typical marinating machine includes a drum having a plurality of paddles therein, which extend radially inward from the inner surface of the drum to agitate the meat or fish as the drum is rotated. A vacuum is also drawn within the chamber of the drum and the vacuum and the paddles pull the meat product apart for deeper penetration of the liquid while the drum is being rotated at a speed of between eight and fifteen rpm.
To ensure that the food products being marinated are sanitary, the inner surface of the drum must be thoroughly cleaned between each use, and therefore, all of the inner surfaces of the drum must be readily accessible for cleaning. It has become the practice, therefore, to provide a marinating drum with paddles that are unitary with to the inner surface of the cylindrical wall of the drum such that within the drum the cylindrical surface of the drum merges into the smooth surfaces of the paddles.
The shape of the paddles effect the marinating process. Paddles having a greater width, that is paddles that extend further radially inward towards the axis of the drum, will provide greater lift to the meat product being marinated than will a paddle that extends radially inward a lesser distance. By lifting the product being marinated a greater distance within the drum, the vacuum in the drum will be more efficient in pulling the product apart. On the other hand, certain foods, such as fish, have a more delicate structure, and such products may break apart in a machine having paddles with a greater width. Presently available marinating machines must provide a multiplicity of drums, with each drum having a different configuration of paddles therein, to accommodate the qualities of different food products to be marinated.
The drum of existing marinating machines are rotated by positioning the drum on a pair of parallel rotating axles having drive wheels mounted thereon. Existing marinating machines have a drive system for rotating both of the axles on which the wheels are mounted, because the outer surface of the marinating drum are often greasy and wet and the drum will not rotate if driven by the drive wheels mounted on a single axle. The greases come from the food products being marinated in the drum and the moisture is precipitated out of the air because the products being marinated in the drum are typically cold. The drive system needed to simultaneously rotate the parallel drive axles however is expensive to manufacture and the drive system significantly increases the cost of marinating machines. The cost of marinating machines is further increased where a multiplicity of drums is required where each drum has a different size paddle. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide an improved marinating machine having a drum the interior of which can be easily cleaned and that would accommodate a plurality of widths of paddles. It would also be desirable to have a marinating machine for which a complicated drive for rotating parallel drive shafts is not required for rotating the drum of the machine.